Blindspots

Helen Thomas' forced "early" retirement at the age of 90 because of some absurd remarks recently urging Israel to vacate Palestine seem symbolic of the inability of most Americans to think clearly about Mideast policy.
My friend Alex Martin suggested recently that in his experience many Chinese acquaintances, generally liberal and politically progressive in most areas of concern, will automatically become irrational when Tibetan policy is discussed, as when the Dalai Lama is dismissed in anger as an insurgency leader. The fact that the DL has never advocated Tibetan independence is simply not perceived: he is simply a diabolical agent threatening Chinese sovereignty, and that is all there is to say about it.
Such blooming nonsense is typical of the way many American politicians view Palestine -- it represents a perceptual blind-spot in the minds of many, and events that are more properly viewed as morally scandalous are not even registered.